'I hit rock bottom': Storm star opens up on mental health battle

"Let's just say I hit rock bottom," he admits, candidly. "You couldn't have got any lower.

"If it wasn't for my family and friends, I wouldn't know what could have happened to me going through those tough times.

"I was doing my dream job of being a rugby league player, but then you get to the point you don't want to get out of bed in the morning – it gets pretty sad.

"If you told me 12 months ago I was about to go through the year I have, I wouldn't be able to do it. I wouldn't put my hand up to go through it."

Before we go any further, it's important to point out that this story has a happy ending. Well, mostly happy.

Scott overcame anxiety, depression and a broken foot to play the final two games of Melbourne's season and then get selected for the Prime Minister's XIII, the Kangaroos World Cup 9s squad and the Junior Kangaroos.

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As he proudly tells The Sun-Herald while sitting in the glorious foyer of the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva this week: "You can't keep a good man down, brother. That's what I've learnt out of this whole thing. You can throw everything at me, beat me up, do whatever you want, but you can't keep a good man down."

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Unfortunately Scott reinjured his foot playing for the PM's side on Friday night, but he is confident it is a minor setback and not a repeat of the break that destroyed his season. The injury will keep him out of the World Nines and the Junior Kangaroos. In keeping with the luck he's had, he suffered the injury in his first hit-up of the game.

"Hopefully the scans come back all right," Scott says. "It doesn't feel like a break. I can still do calf raises on it, which is a good sign. I'll have some time off now and get the body and head right and keep moving forward."

There were all sorts of stories being circulated about Scott at the start of the year.

There was the supposed punch-up with Quade Cooper as they crossed paths near the Storm's training base.

"None of that happened," Scott says. "It was all blown up. I was aware of the story.

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"It was also tossed up me and [Will] Chambers had a punch-up. But we're tight. Will has only ever helped since I came to Melbourne and taken me under his wing."

Around the time the Cooper "incident" was making headlines, Scott was dropped from first grade. Now this is where the facts needs to be separated from the fiction. The brief dumping from the Storm's NRL side had nothing to do with Cooper. Scott was struggling with depression. It is only now when he talks about it he realises how bleak things had become.

If it wasn't for my family and friends, I wouldn't know what could have happened to me.

Curtis Scott

The Cooper whispers had hardly done wonders for his frame of mind.

He had also been told he had glandular fever and was having pain-killing injections each week for an AC joint he injured in the opening round against the Broncos.

"When I was struggling, I wouldn't talk to anyone," Scott says. "I'd come home from training and go to my room and sit in there the whole time.

"I was living with [Storm teammates] Brandon Smith and Scotty Drinkwater at the time. They didn't know what to do, nor did I expect them to know how to handle it. I'd just tell them I was fine. It built up and built up and finally boiled over.

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"I wasn't sleeping and was taking sleeping tablets. I wasn't all over the shop, I was doing my best to keep it together, but there were a few things that shouldn't have been the way they were.

"I was struggling with mental health. And once I got rid of the people who were making my life worse, I was sweet."

The first person Scott called when he hit "rock bottom" was his older brother Lewis. Scott's family were aware of his mental struggle, but living in Sydney there was only so much they could do.

Playing well was Scott's short-term plan to overcome his demons, but then he broke his foot against Parramatta during a career-best game during Magic Round.

Curtis Scott sought to silence media specualtion swirling around him with a superb performance against the Eels in round 9, but broke his foot late in the match.Credit:AAP

"I was banking on all my problems going away if I could play just one good game," Scott says. "I played one of the best games to date against Parramatta, then I break my foot.

"I had to quickly learn I couldn't rely on football [to feel better].

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"I broke down when the doctor told me I'd be out for 12 to 14 weeks. I was having a rough trot as it was. I thought, 'When can I catch a break?'"

For almost two months Scott was the only player at the Storm in the rehabilitation group. But Storm coach Craig Bellamy admired the way he knuckled down, got physically and mentally better, and rewarded him with a shock semi-final start against the Eels ahead of Chambers.

Curtis Scott after breaking his foot in May.Credit:NRL Photos

Chambers has since picked up a deal with Japanese rugby. Scott has two years remaining on his Storm deal, but also been linked with a possible move to Sydney.

As he likes to describe it: "I'm getting shopped around more than a cheap suit. Every story being written would be linking me to North Queensland or even the Bulldogs.

"I want to stay in Melbourne. I wouldn't want the hustle and bustle of the Sydney media.

"I'm happy with my contract. I'm actually stoked with it. I'll be staying out of [football manager] Frank Ponissi's office as much as possible."

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Ponissi was the one who had to try and convince Scott he had made the PM's XIII team. He was deep into end of season celebrations and already spotted the original team on Instagram a few hours earlier. Chad Townsend pulled out because his wife Marissa was due to have a baby, which paved the way for Mal Meninga to call on Scott.

Meninga, like Bellamy, was impressed with the young centre's dedication to get back on the field.

"I know he had an up-and-down year, but he finished off well and to me that says a lot about his character and how hard he worked," Meninga says. "The Storm are a tough team to get back into. Who am I to say Craig doesn't know what he is doing by putting Curtis Scott back into his footy team. He's done something right, and I thought he didn't let them down at all. He's also the best right centre with our under-23s."

Scott, who turned 22 on Saturday, had a dream of making the NSW Origin team in 2019. He has the same goal for 2020.

Curtis Scott says he is feeling better after a rough 2019.Credit:NRL Photos

"I want to be a part of that arena," he says. "I just need to get my body and my head right and play good footy. I love the physicality of the game, the aggression, and that's what Origin is about.